Pumpkin Cake Truffles

I am a huge fan of cake pops/truffles. I love that the cake and icing are mixed together and then dipped in chocolate. It makes the filling so rich and creamy and the outside so sweet and crunchy. I love to make cake pops during the holidays. They are great to give to your friends and family because they are individual treats that look very fancy but take no time to make. Another perk about cake truffles is that you can make large batches of the filling and freeze the balls for another day. 

I decided to make a batch of pumpkin cake truffles for my friends this weekend. I used cream cheese frosting as my binder because I love the taste of pumpkin and cream cheese together. I also dipped it in white chocolate because it pairs well with the cream cheese. 

Here is how I did it: 

Pumpkin Cake Truffles 

Pumpkin Bread: 
- 1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin puree
- 4 eggs
- 1 cups vegetable oil
- 2/3 cups of water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups of sugar
- 3 1/2 cups of flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tsp cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:

- 2 packets of softened Philadelphia cream cheese

- 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 cake pans with non-stick spray. In the bowl, combine pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water, vanilla and sugar until well blended. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until well combined. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the bread from the pan and place on a cooling rack. Once fully cooled, crumble the bread in a bowl. Do not use the edges of the cake because they tend to be a little dry. 

For the frosting, combine 2 packets of softened cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extra. Whisk until completely smooth. 

Add the frosting to the crumbled bread and mix well. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm up. Once the mixture is firm, roll into small balls and place on a tray. Cool for another 10 minutes. 

Melt your white chocolate. You can either do this in the microwave, 15 seconds at a time until completely melted. Or, you can place a double boiler over the stove and melt your chocolate that way. Whichever way you prefer. Once the chocolate is melted, dip the balls until fully coated. Place back on the tray with parchment paper underneath and sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over top. Chill in the fridge. 

I had trouble with my chocolate melting properly so I added a little bit of milk and butter to make it thinner. If you are having trouble with your chocolate, you can do the same. The only difference that it makes is that your shell won't be as hard as if you just dipped it in only white chocolate. Once they are hard, you can wrap them or place them in special boxes to send as gifts or you can do what I do and eat them all. 

Anne